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Sunday, February 12, 2017

GADGET SPECIAL ....THE MOST AWAITED PHONES OF 2017

GADGET SPECIAL THE MOST AWAITED
PHONES OF 2017

Which new
phones will outdo the competition? And more importantly, which one will work
for you?

THIS COULD easily be a
20-page column. 2017 will see companies that were doing well try to surge
further ahead, brands that were coming in from behind put in more aggressive
efforts, companies that were dead and buried rise from the ashes and some under
threat to die make a last all-out effort to survive. And each of them will do
it based on a kick-ass phone that will be born in 2017. Some of these made it
to my anticipated gadgets of 2017 column earlier. Even then, it’s impossible
for me to list them all, so here are the ones that will be the most
interesting.

SAMSUNG
NOTE 8

I’m not listing the
Galaxy 8 as that’s going to take forward a very successful story. The Note 8 is
where most of Samsung’s 2017 story will be written from. It’s where we will see
whether Samsung turns into a lion and takes innovation risks with the Note 8 or
morphs into a lamb and plays safe! Rumours talk about an AI assistant that
makes ‘Hey Google’ look like a joke, a camera that may beat the Nokia Pure View
42 megapixel and a new revolutionary note-taking ability. Rumours also suggest
that the battery will have materials inbuilt to make sure the phone can’t burst
into flames. I can relate to that!

APPLE
iPHONE 10

I’ve been mocked and made
fun of for sticking to my theory that the next iPhone will be called the 10 (to
celebrate the 10th Anniversary). Let’s just say I’m sticking to it for certain
reasons I cannot reveal. The next iPhone may have an all-glass design, OLED
curved screen, wireless charging, Touch ID sensor embedded in the screen, dual
camera on both models, a jet white colour option, completely new battery
technology and may be even a Touch Bar like second screen on the top. September
will tell us how much of this comes true!

XIAOMI
Mi 6

This has got to be one of
the most interesting launches of the year. Not just because of the phone, but
also due to the story behind it all. Hugo Barra, the international face of the
company and the man who turned launch events into a giddy fanboy art form, is
gone. Xiaomi also struggles with mounting criticism for its service centres and
spare parts. The phone that will launch in the midst of

THIS
YEAR’S WISHLIST

(From left) Samsung Note
8 could help bring back the brand’s lost glory; the Apple iPhone 10 might be
all white in colour with a brand new battery too; HTC could well be the dark
horse this year; Xiaomi’s Mi 6 (below) could decide its fate and the BlackBerry
Mercury offers a keyboard that can be used like a trackpad (bottom) all this
melodrama is the Mi 6. Expect it to have a ceramic body (aka Mi Mix),
dual-curved display, 6GB of RAM, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 chipset and some
serious battery life. Also, expect it to have a very tumultuous launch in
India.

BLACKBERRY
MERCURY

You can call this the new
BlackBerry as this is the all-new BB phone that will come into existence due to
a licensing of the BB name to TCL. A phone with a classic BB physical keyboard
that you can use like a trackpad, a fingerprint scanner embedded in the space
bar, a USB Type-C port, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, 3GB RAM, 18-megapixel rear
camera and a 3,400-milliamp hour battery pack. BB is back!

NOKIA’S
NEW PORTFOLIO

I’m not singling out one
phone for the new Nokia as they will build an entire portfolio this year. Part
of it will be some classic Nokia style feature phones and multiple smartphones.
The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona should be the start of this journey. One
smartphone announced there may just create the kind of euphoria and buzz that
all of us want Nokia to be associated with. Expect an India launch right after.

HTC NEW
FLAGSHIP PHONE

If the new U phones shown
at the CES were any indication, HTC could be the dark horse that stomps the
competition into the ground and gallops ahead. A new flagship HTC is expected
in April 2017 that creates a ripple in design, optics, hardware and features.
Rumours also suggest a breakthrough innovation with sensors that has never been
done before. The last part is a new-found aggression in prices. Put it all
together and HTC seems to be standing tall in 2017.

2017 will also be the
year to see what Micromax will do as it’s lost tremendous market share, whether
Oppo and Vivo will continue to dominate offline sales, whether Huawei and Honor
continue their dream run, and if the One Plus 5 can rewrite history books
again. We will get to see how Indian brands will woo back the consumer and
whether Microsoft with its Surface phone will finally have its first ever
successful mobile phone (they’ve tried nine times before) that human beings
will actually buy!